Condé Nast Enters Into Agreement To Acquire Leading Social Data And Marketing Platform CitizenNet

NEW YORK – February 8, 2017 – Condé Nast today announced that the company has entered into an agreement to acquire CitizenNet, a leading social data and marketing platform. The acquisition will deepen Condé Nast’s data science talent and expertise and will be incorporated into Condé Nast’s proprietary data product “Condé Nast Spire,” to expand the audience targeting and data capabilities of Condé Nast beyond the company’s owned and operated properties to social platforms where the company’s iconic brands have more than 174 million social followers.

“With continued investment in both our internal talent and brands, and our acquisitions of Pitchfork and Backchannel, Condé Nast has driven record audience and digital revenue growth,” said Fred Santarpia, chief digital officer of Condé Nast. “Our relentless commitment to investing in quality expands beyond editorial to engineering and data, and is also represented by our recent acquisition of Poetica, and now, CitizenNet. This is just the beginning of our investment phase, and we will continue to identify, acquire, and cultivate brands and companies that match our commitment to excellence as we respond to the rapid changes in the media and technology sector.”

Condé Nast Spire combines online behavioral data with online and offline purchase data to provide the ability to optimize campaigns in real time and at a highly personalized level. This capability will now be extended by integrating the large social data sets and patented algorithms of CitizenNet, to deliver an industry-leading reach and performance data product. The company’s advertising and marketing partners will now be able to reach their desired audiences, at scale, across all platforms.

“The combination of Condé Nast’s deep first party data and CitizenNet’s unique capability to target and optimize content and campaigns across our owned and operated properties and vast social followings, will create an industry-first platform for our advertising partners,” said Karthic Bala, head of data strategy for Condé Nast. “The enhanced Condé Nast data platform will be a one-stop solution to close the loop on performance, and measure the effectiveness of campaigns across multiple channels and platforms.”

CitizenNet, a social data and marketing platform, which utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to put the right content, offer or advertisement in front of the right person at the right time is based in Los Angeles, CA and has a team of 42 employees led by CEO Dan Benyamin, a serial entrepreneur who has been building data platforms for more than 15 years. The CitizenNet team will remain based in Los Angeles and continue to service its current clients.

“Condé Nast not only has some of the most iconic brands in the world, but also incredible data capabilities, and I’m looking forward to digging in with the team and unlocking the potential,” said Benyamin. “We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what Machine Learning and AI can do, and it’s exciting to think about the possibilities of being a part of a global media company like Condé Nast.”

Inertia Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to CitizenNet on the transaction. Inertia Advisors is a boutique investment bank providing M&A and growth capital advisory services for technology companies and is a division of KEMA Partners LLC, a SEC Registered Broker-Dealer.

About Condé Nast:
Condé Nast is a premier media company renowned for producing the highest quality content for the world’s most influential audiences. Attracting more than 100 million consumers across its industry-leading print, digital and video brands, the company’s portfolio includes some of the most iconic titles in media: Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Brides, Self, GQ, GQ Style, The New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler, Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Epicurious, Wired, W, Golf Digest, Golf World, Teen Vogue, Ars Technica, The Scene, Pitchfork and Backchannel. The company’s newest division, Condé Nast Entertainment, was launched in 2011 to develop film, television and premium digital video programming.

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